


For The Love of Harry

by jacinth



Series: For the love of... [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, Harry's older by nine years, Jay knows before they do, Louis and Niall fake a relationship, Louis tries to be seductive in yoga pants, M/M, Nick is only mentioned a few times, Teenage Louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-26
Updated: 2014-05-26
Packaged: 2018-01-26 14:49:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1692248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacinth/pseuds/jacinth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I want to meet him.”</p><p>“Why?!”</p><p>Harry's eyes narrowed. “I need to know if he's good enough for you.”</p><p>Or</p><p>Seventeen year old Louis tries to get twenty-six year old Harry to notice him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For The Love of Harry

“Harry!” screeched a twelve year old Louis, running toward the older boy, hopping into his lap and feeling himself enveloped in a tight hug. Harry gave the best hugs. It had been nearly a week since he had seen him and that was just unacceptable. Harry was the son of a close friend to Louis' father who had died seven years earlier and he had lived with their family until he was nineteen and decided to venture out on his own – he came home every Sunday for dinner and visited during the week, but it wasn't nearly enough if you asked Louis.

He had always treated Louis and his sisters like siblings, giving them piggyback rides and playing horse since he was older, and Louis' parents had lucked out, never needing to hire a babysitter because Harry was the responsible type, always eating his veg and fruits, and never getting into trouble. There had been one incident where he had been sent home for fighting at school though it was the first and last.

“Hiya Kid,” Harry greeted, ruffling Louis' hair after he pulled back from the hug, trying hard not to laugh at the cross look that fell over the boys' face.

“Not a kid, _Harold_.” Louis pouted, crossing his arms over his chest and lifting his chin so he could look down his nose at Harry.

The older boy raised an eyebrow “Oh you're not?”

Louis shook his head and continued to pout at him.

“I suppose since you're such an adult...” A wicked grin slid onto Harry's face, “...you won't laugh when I do... this!” he tackled the smaller boy onto the sofa and began ticking him mercilessly. He was rewarded with high-pitched squeals and screams as Louis tried to fight him off.

“Help! Help! A Yeti is tickling me to death!”

Louis' mother Jay came down the stairs, laughing when she saw the boys.

“Mum! Mum! Help!” Louis gasped out between laughs. “Traitor!” he squealed as she passed them, pausing only to snap a picture of the struggling boys. He never saw the pictures she took of them, well not all of them anyway. She was probably making a scrapbook to embarrass them with at her and dads 50th Anniversary or something equally as horrifying.

“Get off!”

“Can't.”

“Harry!!!!!!!”

-:-

“I have something to say.” Harry announced in the middle of dinner, making everyone pause. Louis didn't care what it was, good or bad, as long as he wasn't going away. He could handle anything but that.

“Go on, son.” Louis' father nodded, putting his fork down, Jay at his side looking slightly worried like Harry was about to say he had joined the army.  
  
Harry took a deep breath and cleared his throat, looking directly at them he said. “I'm Bisexual.”  
  
Jay tilted her head and blinked at him. “Is that all?”  
  
Harry nodded, biting his lip nervously until she stood and walked over to him, wrapping him in a hug. “You had me worried! I thought you were going to say you got someone pregnant! Or that you had ran over Lottie's cat!”  
  
Harry exhaled like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders and hugged her back. “So... you're okay with it?”  
  
Jay smiled. “More than, Harry. More than.”  
  
Louis had sat quiet throughout the entire exchange, feeling a little like an idiot. “Harry?”  
  
The older boy turned to him with wide eyes, like he was afraid Louis would be the one to reject him. “Yes?”  
  
“What.... what does bisexual mean?” As far as he knew people were either gay or straight.  
  
Harry let out a relieved laugh. “It means I like girls _and_ boys.” he laughed again at the way Louis scrunched up his face in that adorably confused way.

“Okay then.” Louis smiled, taking a huge bite of mash.

-:-

Louis was fine with it. Until Harry brought home his boyfriend Nick for the first time a year later. He was thirteen then and he knew what jealously felt like. And at first he couldn't place why he felt it burn within himself when Harry first told them he was dating someone, then he realized. 

He loved Harry.

And he wasn't happy about it. Not that there was anything wrong with Harry. It was just that he was nearly ten years older than Louis and would never look at him as anything other than a little brother. A kid.

It didn't help that he hated Nick, who was always patting his head like he was some little pest.

It also didn't help that he _was_ little.

So he focused all his energy on football.

-:-

When Louis was seventeen Harry announced he was getting married. Everyone around the table congratulated him and Nick but Louis merely sat there focused on his mash potato mountain, he could feel Harry's questioning gaze lingering on him and he ignored it.  
  
Later that night there was a knock on his bedroom door. “Come in.” he sighed, not taking his eyes off of his laptop. He knew who it was.  
  
“Lou?” Harry said quietly, closing the door behind him.  
  
“Mmm?”  
  
“Dammit Louis. Look at me when I'm talking to you!”  
  
Louis' head snapped up at the command, his traitorous body heating up, reacting to the growl.  
  
“I'm looking. What do you want me to say, Harry? I'm happy for you? I'm not!”  
  
“Why the fuck not?” Harry snapped back, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.  
  
“Because...” he couldn't tell him the truth. “Everything will be different.”

“No,” Harry shook his head, eyes softening. “It won't.” walking over to Louis' bed and sitting, he put his arm around the younger boy. “Lou... It's not like I'll have some new life, I mean, I will, but you, your sisters, Jay and Mark will be a part of it. A part of me. I wouldn't just leave to start a life without you guys in it. We'll just have a new member of the family.”

Louis' back stiffened at the last part. “He's not my family. He never will be.” he ground out stubbornly. Harry dropped his arm and stood. “I love Nick, Louis. You're going to have to accept that. He will be my husband! What good does it do to dislike him? I know he can be...”  
  
“A prat?” Louis supplied, pulling his knees up and resting his chin on them.  
  
“Louis.”  
  
“Do you?” he asked, turning his head so that his right cheek was resting on his knees and looking up at Harry. “Do you love him? Or are you just settling?”

Harry let out a humorless laugh. “You're just a kid, Louis. What would you know about love?”

“I know a lot about love actually.”

Snorting, Harry rolled his eyes. “Oh really now? Did the neighbour girl let you feel her up?”

The hurt that flashed through Louis' chest made him reckless. “No you arse! Because I am in love!” _with you_. He didn't say that last part out loud. But he said enough. Shit shit. “With Henry.” he lied. Henry? He didn't even _know_ anyone named Henry. You fucking moron! He cursed himself.

Green eyes snapped to his. “Who is Henry?”

Fuck. He just made everything worse didn't he. Harry was going to go all protective big brother on him now. _Shit_.

“He.. he.. makes me feel...” Louis thought of Harry. “Like my heart is going to explode right out of my chest whenever I look at him. Like I would die if I had to go a day without seeing him. And when he touches me...”

Louis' little ramble was cut off by Harry gripping his arms. “You let some stranger touch you?!”

Hello over protective big brother mode. “He's not a stranger!” Louis hissed, trying to yank himself out of Harry's grip. An inappropriate erection would be entirely unwelcome right now. “He's everything! So don't you dare tell me I know nothing about love!”  
  
“I want to meet him.”

 “Why?!”

Harry's eyes narrowed. “I need to know if he's good enough for you.”  
  
Jutting out his chin defiantly, Louis huffed. “I didn't get any say on whether Slick Nick the Dick was good enough for you. Why should-”  
  
“ _Louis..._ ” Harry said in a warning tone.

“Fine! I'll bring him to dinner next Sunday.”

Goddamn it. How the fuck was he going to pull this off?

-:-

“Niall!”  
  
“Yeah buddy?”  
  
“I need a favor. A huge favor.”  
  
-:-  
  
Louis faced Niall “Alight, What's your name?”  
  
Niall sighed. “Henry Colin James”

“How long have we been dating?”

“Six months.”  
  
“And?”  
  
“ _And?_ ”

“You love me!”  
  
“You owe me _big_ for this Louis. _Big_.”  
  
“I know! Now, give me a hickey!”  
  
“What!”

-:-

Louis knew he was being ridiculous but Harry couldn't know about his feelings. Maybe if he hadn't of opened his mouth in the first place he wouldn't be in this situation – the point was, Louis is an idiot.  
  
“Mum! Ni-ha Henry and I are going upstairs! Call us when dinner's ready!” Louis called from the foot of the stairs.  
  
“You're not going to make me give you another love bite, are you?” Niall said warily after the bedroom door closed behind them.  
  
“Nope. Just gonna put on some music and hang out – if that's alright with you.”  
  
About ten minutes later Louis heard a car pull up outside, Harry. Acting on a gut feeling he grabbed Niall from where he was perched on the beanbag in the corner of his room and dragged him onto the bed. “What – Louis!”  
  
“Shut up! Just...” Louis laid on his back then pulled Niall down beside him so that he was on his stomach, half on top of Louis half on the bed.  
  
“You're fuckin nuts.”  
  
“You think I don't know that!” Louis hissed, blushing as he grabbed Niall's hand, placing it on his stomach under his shirt.  
  
They hadn't even been in that position thirty seconds before Louis' bedroom door swung open, revealing a shocked and slightly angry looking Harry.  
  
Louis, pretending to be shocked, shoved Niall off and sat up. “Harry!”  
  
Harry didn't look at him, keeping his eyes on Niall – he looked slightly deranged if he was being honest. Before anything could come of it Louis leaped in front of Niall and introduced them. “Harry, this is-”  
  
“Henry.” Harry interrupted, walking around Louis to stand in front of a somewhat traumatized looking Niall.  
  
“Yes. I'm N-enry.”

“Nenry?” Harry repeated, looking at the scared boy like he was twelve kinds of crazy.

Louis flapped his hand and let out a hysterical laugh, “Henry moved here from Ireland a few years ago, funny accent and all that.”  
  
Harry's looked back at him, eyes narrowing when he zoomed in on the love bite. “I see.”

Without introducing himself further Harry backed up, walking out of the room. “I think you two should come down stairs now.”  
  
“You didn't tell me you had a jealous boyfriend!” Niall squealed, eyes still huge like a frightened deer.  
  
“I- he is _not_ my boyfriend. And he wasn't jealous. Just acting like a protective older brother.”  
  
“He's your brothmmh!”

Louis to leaped over the bed and shove a hand over his mouth. “No you dunce. He's a... family friend, I guess. Not my brother.”

Niall let out a breath. “Jesus. I would have been concerned if he _was_ your brother – what with the way he was looking at _you_ and contemplating all the ways he could murder _me_.”

Louis snorted, rolling his eyes. “He wasn't looking at me any differently than he always does.”

“....like he wants to bend you over the nearest-”  
  
“Shut. Up. Your fear has obviously caused delusions.”  
  
“Yeah. Right, Louis, you keep telling yourself th-”  
  
“NOW!” Harry roared from the bottom of the stairs, startling them both into motion.

-:-

The atmosphere was a cross between tense and amused the rest of the night, with Harry staring at Niall like Norman Bates, Nick sending annoyed glares at his fiance, Jay trying and failing to hide her smile behind her hand, the girls giggling and Louis pondering Niall's words about the way Harry looks at him. All in all, it could have been worse.

Later, when Louis was saying goodbye to Niall they had to go down the drive to avoid Harry's glare peering at them through the window. 

“I am not doing that again. You can't make me!” Niall hissed, “You and Tate Langdon in there need to work things out. Tell him how you feel before he hears it on the street.”

Louis tilted his head, “How would he hear it on the street?”

“I will stand on the street and yell it at your house!”

“Calm down, Niall, Jesus.”

Niall let out a loud fake laugh. “Don't! Tell me to calm down when I just spent the last five hours in your house feeling like a hunted rabbit!”

Louis sighed, he was getting a headache.

-:-

A week later, Harry and Nick broke up.

-:-

Louis was trying very _very_ hard not to be happy about the break-up, but he just couldn't help it. He didn't know what had caused it, all he knew was that it was a relief. Louis knew he was selfish for thinking that way, yet he couldn't bring himself to care, and Harry didn't seem all that torn up about it so.. there.

Now all he had to do was get Harry to notice him – sure, Niall had suggested he had already noticed Louis but he just couldn't make himself to believe it.

It was a little too cool to show too much skin, not to mention Louis had always been somewhat self-conscious of his body – his thighs were too thick, his ass was too big, his tummy too... fleshy, but he had to do something before Harry went out and found himself another dickbag.

And that was how Louis found himself strutting around the house in nothing but white yoga pants, under the pretense of 'getting more flexible for football' and it had earned him a few suspicious looks from his mum but he _had_ actually hurt his bum when he fell the week before so she bought it in the end.

White looked good against his tan skin and made his ass look amazing, even if it was a little too big for Louis' liking.

When Louis heard Harry's car pull up he got into the 'downward dog' position in the spacious living room, making sure his ass was facing the entrance.  
  
A laugh burst from him at how ridiculous he was being. ' _Oh the things you go through to get your man_ ' he thought. Not that there was any guarantee Harry would ever see him as anything more than a kid.

The door opened. “Hey every-”

Louis smirked to himself. “Hi Harry! Mum's in the kitchen making tea! I'm just finishing up here, be with you in a moment.”

“I didn't know you did yoga.” Harry's crackling voice came from somewhere behind him.  
  
“Yeah. Thought it'd be a good idea to get a little more flexible.”  
  
“Why's that?” Harry sounded like he hadn't had water in weeks and it filled Louis with nine kinds of glee.  
  
“Oh... you know. It will help with footie... and other things.”  
  
“Henry being one of the 'other things'?”  
  
Louis had to bite his lip to contain his smile; Harry sounded pissed off now.

“Oh please.” Louis huffed, “That's over and done with. He couldn't please me.” and it was true, Niall was horrible at pretending to be his boyfriend. It was only after a lengthy silence that Louis realized what he had said.

He stood, avoiding Harry's gaze as he grabbed his sweatshirt off of the sofa and pulled it on. “Tea?” he asked as he passed the older man, only to be yanked back by the elbow.

“You let him... touch you?”

Louis bit his lip and looked up into Harry's eyes. “N-not in the way you're thinking – I'll probably die a virgin.” he laughed.  
  
Harry's eyes darkened as his grip tightened. “No. I highly doubt that, Louis.”

It sounded more like a promise than a reassurance.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I might write another part with Harry making good on his 'promise'
> 
> Comments are always welcome!


End file.
